Random musings about the multi-fandom life.

Tag Archives: Pete Wentz

Pete Wentz, bassist of Fall Out Boy, discovered a little, unknown Las Vegas band called Panic! at the Disco. By late 2004, Pete signed this young, upcoming band onto his Fueled By Ramen imprint label, Decaydance Records. Panic! at the Disco’s debut album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, released in September 2015. This Las Vegas band made their official debut into the “scene” music genre.

I was in middle school around this time. So the name Panic! at the Disco sounded vaguely familiar. During middle school years, my fellow peers bombarded me with a plethora of “scene” artists’ names throughout the school day. This is the only reason I was even aware of the mainstream popularity of “scene” music.

I already mentioned in the emo rock blog post how my appreciation for this particular music genre quickly morphed into immense love over the years. For some unbeknownst reason, I just couldn’t get into Panic! at the Disco’s debut and sophomore albums. Sometimes things in life take time to grow on you. Panic! at the Disco would definitely fall into that description. From 2008 to 2010, I explored “scene” genre with majority of my bias artists being under Fueled by Ramen label. Yet ironically it wasn’t until 2011 Panic! at the Disco’s music sparked my interest.

MTV’s Hits television channel was my occasional guilty pleasure around 2008 or 2009. I enjoyed checking out what music would be played during their various program segments. Often, MTV Hits was my frequent go-to TV channel during summers. Summers are when I will seek out to discover new artists or bands. Usually they’re musically similar to the artists I already listen to.

Music is one of the ways I unwind from the stresses within my personal and academic life. One month after graduating high school, there was plenty of stress resting on my shoulders. Lots of conflicting emotions too. Excitement to start a new chapter of my life. Anxiety of starting over in a new environment. Elation to take steps towards my career. Worry that I wouldn’t be able to find people similar like me in college. Eager anticipation to make new friends. Apprehension over how potentially intense college academic rigor will be compared to high school academic rigor. It wasn’t until two months before the fall semester of college I was mentally prepared for this new life journey.

Back in the summer of 2011, I was casually flipping between my preferred go-to TV channels. “Ballad of Mona Lisa” music video began playing as I swapped to MTV Hits. The first minute sparked my intrigue. Putting the TV remote down next to me, my whole attention was directed at this music video. I had never seen a Panic! at the Disco music video before this point. So I had no idea what to expect.

“Ballad of Mona Lisa” was a steampunk themed music video that conveyed a fascinating concept which brought the song’s lyrics to life. Don’t even get me started on that gloriously bad-ass steampunk top hat worn by the lead singer. Plus, the lead singer was rocking guyliner like it was no one’s business. The addictive punk pop beat instantly hooked me within 30 seconds. Within the same week, Panic! at the Disco’s “Ballad of Mona Lisa” music video played many times on MTV Hitlist and Fuse TV channels. My intrigue rapidly blossomed into appreciation as each listen made me fall further in love with this song. With absolute certainty, I knew I had to check out Panic! at the Disco’s new album, Vices & Virtues!

Panic! at the Disco’s YouTube channel enabled users to listen to the whole album for free. This worked out in my favor. Here’s my policy with albums: I won’t buy a music album until I’ve listened to it in entirety at least 10-15 times. I’ve been a loyal iTunes user for the past 8 years. Artist’s more recent albums aren’t necessarily cheap. I don’t bother buying singles. Only full albums or Extended Play (EP) albums. So the music album purchase must be worth it! I binged Vices & Virtues album in full entirely approximately 20-ish times. From start to finish, Vices & Virtues takes the listener on an incredible journey. Each song experiments with various musical styles. I needed this Panic! at the Disco album in my iTunes library! (Random note: Actually I wound up purchasing Vices & Virtues deluxe edition album on iTunes. Compared the regular edition, the deluxe edition included two bonus songs and “Ballad of Mona Lisa” music video. This additional content totally justified spending $3 more for this version of the album.)

This led me to check out Panic! at the Disco’s previous albums. A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out and Pretty Odd. Two drastically diverse musical styles. Their debut album didn’t take too long to grow on me. This emo punk pop album incorporated aspects of baroque pop. This album definitely stood out against other “scene” albums around the mid-2000s. Quite impressive for a new, upcoming band especially with their debut album.

Pretty Odd is an entirely different story. I didn’t grow up with psychedelic pop rock. So The Beatles influence sound within Pretty Odd didn’t quite jive well with me for a long time. It would take me a couple years before forming an appreciation for it. This album was an acquired taste for me.

Holy moly! The lead singer’s voice is a decadent wine you just cannot get enough of. Only one other lead singer of out of my bias alternative rock bands has such incredible vocal range and soulfully, rich tone. Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy. I could seriously listen to Panic! at the Disco’s music for several hours at a time and never get tired of it. Also, I love the complex layering of different musical styles within their songs. It ain’t the typical sound you hear in alternative rock genre.

When I wasn’t listening to their albums on my iTunes, YouTube became my best friend. I intensely browsed Panic! at the Disco band interviews to learn more about its band members. I didn’t know Jon Walker and Ryan Ross had officially left the band in 2009 due to musical creative differences. This is why I had no issues with the band’s new musical direction with Vices & Virtues album. I wasn’t even aware Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith were the remaining original band members. Band interviews tell you about individual member’s personalities and the band’s dynamic in terms of interacting with each other. Out of all my rock artists, Brendon Urie has the most extroverted, charismatic personality for a lead singer. A fabulously multi-faceted personality that never ceases to amaze me even five years later. Also, he can play at least 3-5 instruments with high level of mastery. This is a man of many talents. I fell head over heels in love with him. Truly never a dull moment with Brendon Urie.

Ever since discovering Panic! at the Disco in 2011, I dreamed of having the opportunity to see them in concert. They sound really amazing based off the live concert videos clips I found on YouTube. I’m often very skeptical if my bias rock bands will sound good live as they do on their studio albums. I’d hate to be extremely disappointed upon to discovering they sound absolutely nothing close to their recorded albums.

Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die was released in October 2013. Panic! at the Disco experimented with an entirely different musical style compared to their previous three albums. Their fourth album embraced a more synth pop vibe. I was very pleasantly surprised by Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die. This particular album embodies Brendon’s personal evolution from his youthful days growing up in Vegas to becoming the front man of a well-known rock band. The album essentially is pays homage to the band’s hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Panic! at the Disco extended The Gospel tour dates between July and August 2014. I will randomly look up tour dates for my bands from time to time especially after a release of a new album. Many of my bands often tour during summers. One of the The Gospel tour dates was stopping by Pier 6 Pavilion. I discovered this exactly one week before the day of this concert. This filled me with exuberant joy. Favor was on my side. There were still tickets on sale for this particular concert date.

I was already familiar with the layout of Pier 6 Pavilion’s venue. mtvU’s Sunblock Festival was the last concert I attended at Pier 6 Pavilion back in July 2009. So this helped me to figure out what available seats would give the best view and concert experience. With concert tickets, my goal it to never pay more than a total of $70 (including venue fees).

I was bubbling with excitement the day of the concert! I was extremely surprised to discover my seat was within close proximity of the stage. Only 7-10 feet from the main stage on outer edge of right lower section. I had only bought my ticket exactly 7 days before this concert…the favors were definitely in my odds. I usually purchase my concert tickets at least 2-3 month in advance due the high popularity of my artists/ bands. Despite being near the speakers, the general sound acoustic was still excellent. My seat gave me fantastic views of the main stage.

Walk the Moon and Magic Man were the opening band acts for Panic’s The Gospel Tour. They were decent but didn’t really sparked too much of my interest. These bands’ music weren’t my cup of tea. I can still appreciate opening band’s music even if it doesn’t entirely appeal to me. They were good transitions to the main act of the evening.

Panic! at the Disco delivered a high-energy 22 song set list. That is pretty intense. Nearly 90 minutes of mind-blowing, spectacular performances. Pier 6 Pavilion has a smaller main stage. Yet, Brendon’s overwhelmingly charismatic personality exploded on the stage. Despite the medium-small-ish venue, Panic! at the Disco delivered performances that made the audience feel as if they were in huge arena venue. Brendon offered several terse yet entertaining commentaries between songs due to how packed their set list was that evening. Panic! at the Disco not only sounds as good as their studio albums. It way exceeds the sound quality of their recorded albums. I already knew Brendon Urie is stunning gorgeous based off the YouTube interviews and photos floating around online. Seeing Brendon perform on main stage, I fell even more in love with him. He has a very special place in my heart. I waited three years and finallyhad chance to see Panic! at the Disco in concert. Truly a dream come true! This concert experience was adequately documented in photographs and a few recorded video clips.

In September 2015, I had another opportunity to see Panic! at the Disco at Shippensburg University. My friend was a current student at Shippensburg University at the time. Rachel is a huge fan of Panic! at the Disco’s music too. So I paid between $25-$30 the for non-student concert ticket. That’s still a super cheap ticket price. I hadn’t paid anything under $30 for concerts since July 2009. This concert was held in Shippensburg’s main auditorium. Way bigger than Pier 6 Pavilion’s open-air venue. Rachel and I were fortunate to find two spots on the crowded bleachers. This gave us a great elevated perspective of the main stage. We wouldn’t have been able to see much cramming into the general standing area. I had only one slight issue with sitting on the bleachers. Majority of people on the bleachers remained seated during Panic! at the Disco’s set. Sadly, Rachel and I were unable to stand up during P!ATD’s set without rudely blocking the people in the row behind us. Yet, I still had an absolute blast during Panic! at the Disco’s 20 song set. It was hard to believe Brendon was battling a horrible cold that evening. Hell he sounds better than I do when I’m suffering from a bad cold. P!ATD delivered kick-ass, energetic performances. At the end of that evening, my friend and I drove away from Shippensburg University with jubilant grins plastered on our faces.

Death of a Bachelor was released in January 2016. “Hallelujah”, “Victorious”, “Death of a Bachelor”, and “Emperor’s New Clothes” presented listeners with very different musical tones. This was just a little taste of how spectacular the new album would be. In the new album, Brendon basically reflects on his life experiences regarding the transition from a single bachelor to a married man. All of the album’s song lyrical content expresses quite an array of emotions. Death of a Bachelor album was love at first listen. I marveled at the beautifully moving songwriting. Some songs legit gave me goosebumps. Within the first week of its release, I easily binge-listened Death of a Bachelor album in entirety 30-40 times.

Brendon Urie isn’t afraid to break the mold by evolving Panic! at the Disco’s sound with each album. Each album has very different musical styles. It is literally a musical journey listening to their albums in chronological order from A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out to Death Of A Bachelor.

I apologize for the super long length of this blog post. Over the past five years, my love for Panic! at the Disco has exponentiallygrown. I don’t understand how I didn’t discover this amazing alternative rock band until summer of 2011. Well it is better late than never.